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THE BASICS OF MOVING TO WINDOWS 95 FOR WIN 3.X USERS

INSTALLING WINDOWS 95: If you decide to upgrade over your existing Win3.x/DOS I and want to keep your current Win3.x/DOS setup (and have the ability to put everything back if the Win95 setup screws up!) do this:

Make sure you have tons of free hard drive space! 100MB or more.
Copy your current DOS startup files (autoexec.bat, config.sys) to a floppy disk that is bootable with your current version of DOS. Make sure the floppy has a copy of SYS.COM, XCOPY.EXE and DELTREE.EXE on it from your current C:\DOS directory..
"XCOPY" your entire C:\WINDOWS directory and all subdirectories (use the "/S" parameter of XCOPY) to a directory called C: \WIN31.
Install the Windows 95 upgrade over the copy of your Win3.x in your C:\WINDOWS directory.
Say "yes" to save your old DOS, other files during the Win95 setup. (You can remove later once you're comfortable with Win95 by itself).
If it finishes with no problems-you're off-welcome to Windows 95! Please note that sometimes it may take 2-3 restarts for your new Windows 95 to detect all of your hardware. Be patient!

RESTORING YOUR OLD WIN3.x/DOS CONFIGURATION: If the Windows 95 upgrade "screws up" here's how to "put it all back":

Boot off the old DOS floppy disk we made above. Don't worry if you get weird error messages booting off the floppy-it's just trying to read the old DOS startup files we put there.
At the A> prompt type SYS C: To reinstall the old DOS boot on your hard drive.
Copy your original autoexec.bat and config.sys files back onto your C:\ drive, root directory.
DELTREE the C:\WINDOWS directory.
XCOPY (/S) the backup copy of your old Windows files from C:\WIN31 back to C:\WINDOWS.
Remove the floppy and reboot off the harddrive. It should boot and act like it did before we started this. upgrade adventure!

OTHER UPGRADE ISSUES FOR WIN 3.X USERS:

You will discover that a few old Windows 3.x applications (Written for Win3.0 perhaps) may not run in Win95. The only one's I've found were old kid's games written for Windows 3.0!
Some DOS programs (Seems like it's mostly games) may refuse to run or do screwy things when run via a normal "DOS box" in Win95. Win95 has other modes to try if you run into trouble with running DOS applications. You can run them a new way called "MSDOS Mode" or even boot your Win95 system to a DOS prompt! Win95 by default enters the GUI automatically on bootup. You have to edit the Win95 MSDOS.SYS file to change this feature by making "BootGUI=0" to the [Options] section. See my Win95/DOS Memory Tips.

Note1: You can install the Windows 95 "upgrade" without having a copy of Windows 3.x actually installed on your harddrive! All you need is your Win3.x floppy disk#1. When the Win95 setup can't find the old Windows on your harddrive-it will prompt you to tell it where to find it-that's when you insert your Win 3.x disk#1 in the floppy drive and tell the setup program "A:\." Then-off you go!

Note2: You can set Windows 95 up to dual boot either Win95 OR your old DOS/Win3.x! Edit your Win95 MSDOS.SYS File and add "BootMulti=1" to the [Options] section. See my Win95/DOS Memory Tips.

Note3: I strongly recommend buying the book "Windows 95 Secrets" by Brian Livingston before you jump into Win95 or even if you've used it for a while. It even comes with a CDROM of Win95 shareware goodies.

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